Arizona's Western history museums bring the past to life

Pack a snack and drive out Wickenburg way for a day at this museum, which opened in 1969 with the vision of preserving the essence of Wickenburg and the Arizona Territory.(Photo: Photo provided by Desert Caballeros Western Museum)

Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West

Visitors look at exhibits at the Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West(Photo: Mark Henle/The Republic)

Where better to find a museum dedicated to Western life than in the West’s most Western town?

Exhibits explore cowboy and Native American culture, offering an understanding of frontier life decades before the land was tamed by cars and air conditioning. Visitors will find western memorabilia in addition to art.

The museum also hosts an extensive research library dedicated to Western studies. Appointments are required.

Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park

The front gate at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Park.(Photo: Arizona State Parks)

The first thing visitors see when they walk into the museum here are flinty eyes. No, it's not the museum staff having a bad day.

A murderers row of mug shots includes "Buckskin" Frank Leslie, whom Wyatt Earp compared to Doc Holliday in gun skill; Pearl Hart, who committed the last Arizona stagecoach robbery; and spooky-eyed Elena Estrada, who stabbed her unfaithful lover and then cut open his chest, pulled out his heart and threw the bloody mass into his face. Now, that's an exhibit!

Yuma Territorial Prison opened in 1876 and by the time it closed 33 years later had carved out a fearsome reputation. No one was executed but 111 prisoners died while incarcerated and 104 still lie in the prison graveyard.

Visitors can climb the guard tower, tour the infamous "snake den" punishment cell and have their mug shots taken at the original mirror used by prisoners to create profile views. Some historical sites are boring for kids, but a place where they can lock their siblings in a cell and wear prison stripes isn't one of them.

Jerome State Historic Park

Douglas Mansion is the centerpiece of Jerome State Historic Park and prominent among the historical buildings that dot the small town's Credit: Tom Hood/The Daily Courier.(Photo: Tom Hood, The Daily Courier)

This museum has a spectacular setting. The park preserves the Douglas Mansion, built on a hill overlooking the Verde Valley with vistas stretching to the San Francisco Peaks. The 8,700-square-foot mansion has been a landmark — part of the vertical topography of Jerome yet apart from it — since it was built in 1916.

James S. Douglas built the opulent adobe structure just above his Little Daisy Mine, which was booming. The home also served as lodging for traveling mining officials and investors. It featured a wine cellar, billiard room, steam heat and central vacuum system. This was at a time when thousands of miners were living in shacks, tents and boarding houses.

The mines played out and Jerome emptied. The Douglas family sold the property to the state for $10 in 1960. The mansion joined the park system in 1964.

It's a stunning museum filled with photographs, artifacts, mining equipment, minerals and detailed models of the complicated network of shafts and tunnels dug through the mountains. Even though most of the displays are inside, take time to wander the grounds and soak up the panoramic views.

Tombstone Courthouse

A new collection of Wyatt Earp memorabilia is on display at the Tombstone Courthouse Historic State Park.(Photo: Roger Naylor)

Tombstone sometimes seems conflicted — eager to preserve its National Historic Landmark designation but itching to go full-blown theme park. Visitors often experience a version of the Old West filtered through a Hollywood lens. To get the real nitty-gritty, stop by the Tombstone Courthouse.

Built in 1882 in the shape of a Roman cross, the Cochise County Courthouse became an important symbol in the wild and wooly town. The body count was so high during those violent days that it was said "Tombstone had a man for breakfast every morning."

The two-story, red-brick Victorian structure housed the offices of the sheriff, recorder and treasurer, plus courtrooms and jail. A parade of colorful characters on both sides of the law filed through these doors. Yet all boomtowns have their bust. The Tombstone silver mines flooded before the end of the century and residents fled. In 1929, Bisbee became the county seat and county offices were moved there.

The Tombstone Courthouse sat empty for decades. Plans to turn it into a luxury hotel during the 1940s fizzled and it was left to deteriorate. A local group purchased the building in 1955 and began a lengthy rehabilitation project. The courthouse opened as a state park in 1959, featuring exhibits and artifacts that capture one of Arizona's most notorious chapters. A replica of the gallows in the courtyard depicts where seven men were hanged.

McFarland State Historic Park

Pinal County Courthouse in Florence was built in 1881.(Photo: Roger Naylor/Special for the Republic)

Although not as famous as its Tombstone counterpart, the Pinal County Courthouse in Florence saw its share of violence and then some. In 1888, vigilantes stormed the sheriff's office, dragged two prisoners from their cells and hanged them in the corridor of the jail. The men had been charged with robbing the stage and killing the guard. Members of the mob were never brought to justice.

The adobe courthouse was built in 1878. Lumber for the roof and floors was hauled by wagon from the forests of northern Arizona. Courtroom, judge's chambers, sheriff's office and jail occupied the first floor. The second story was used as a jury room and quarters for visiting lawmen. In less troublesome times, the courthouse was the site of dances and social gatherings.

When a larger courthouse was built in 1891, the adobe building became the county hospital. It later served as a museum. In 1974, former Arizona governor Ernest McFarland purchased the building and donated it to Arizona State Parks.

The park closed in late 2008 so the old structure could be stabilized, and state budget cutbacks kept it closed until early 2011. Arizona State Parks forged a partnership with Florence and the Main Street Program, which now manages the facility. It serves as the Florence Visitor Center.

McFarland is on the walking tour of Florence's downtown historical district. Founded in 1866, Florence is one of Arizona's oldest towns, and one of the best preserved. Adobe homes are interspersed with elegant Victorians and early 20th-century commercial structures. Grab a map for a 1.4-mile stroll that weaves through Florence's colorful past.

Sharlot Hall Museum

Writer and poet Sharlot Hall was appointed Territorial Historian in 1909, becoming the first Arizona woman to hold territorial office.(Photo: Prescott Tourism)

Sharlot Hall was a frontier poet who was appointed territorial historian in 1909, making her the first female public official in Arizona Territory. She founded the museum in 1928.

The museum is a pioneer village centering on the original Governor's Mansion, built in 1864. Buildings open to visitors also include the Fremont House, the relocated home of fifth territorial governor John Charles Fremont, and the Ranch House and School House, replicas that give tourists a feel for the tight quarters shared by Arizona's pioneers.

The Sharlot Hall Building houses exhibits on mining, ranching and firefighting during territorial days, as well as a cultural history of the Yavapai Prescott Indian Tribe.

Details: 415 W. Gurley St., Prescott. 928-445-3122, sharlot.org.

— Roger Naylor, Special for The Republic

Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum

Visitors to the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum can learn about the men who blasted, drilled and mined over 2,000 miles of tunnels in the surrounding mountains.(Photo: Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum)

You'll see what life was like in Bisbee when it was a busy mining camp in the late 18th and early 19th century. The museum, a Smithsonian Institute affiliate, takes you inside a mine (via a realistic display) that offers visitors a small taste of the narrow confines miners faced each day.

You'll also see parts of the massive machines that dug the nearby Lavender Pit, a 900-foot-deep crater from which 600,000 tons of copper was pulled.

Be sure to ask docents about the huge, wall-size photo of a turn-of-the-century parade in downtown Bisbee. They'll point out some otherwise unnoticed details of how people lived and dressed during the town's heyday.